Learning To Play An Instrument.

Hello lovelies! How was everyone’s week? Are you looking forward to the Bank Holiday Monday? I know I am! So, you can probably guess from the title of today’s post what I’ll be chatting/writing about. I have been learning to play the piano!

Ever since I was little I wanted to be musically talented. You know what it’s like, ‘I want to be a popstar!’ and all that. But, sadly for me, that was not to be. I have zero musical abilities and have tried, failed and vowed to only listen to music over and over again and give up on my dreams of being able to play an instrument and sing.

Well, about a month and a bit ago, I decided that I was going to learn to play the piano once again. And this time I promised myself that this time I WOULD NOT GIVE UP. If you’ve been in this position before and tried to learn an instrument then you’re likely familiar with feeling super motivated and determined and then trying to play a tutorial from YouTube and then realising you’re in over your head. And then giving up.

Also it didn’t help that last time I tried to teach myself the piano I was trying to do it on a small kiddies keyboard that was bright pink.. you know the ones, you get them from Argos for about £20. Bargain for young kids who are just starting out if you ask me! But maybe not ideal if you’re teaching yourself.. especially if you’re in your twenties..

And when I tried to learn before I had no intention of starting with the basics, I couldn’t read sheet music, couldn’t use both hands to play anything and just generally couldn’t do anything other than the start of maybe one song without any cords.

So, what changed this time?

Well, I decided I wanted to learn to play again when I found a fairly decent keyboard in our loft! This time I WAS going to learn and I was going to take it seriously and practice everyday and actually have some structure to how I was going to learn.

I’d seen adverts for the app Simply Piano (by JoyTunes) more times than I could count so I thought I’d give that a go. The app is a subscription based app but for me, I figured that would give me the motivation I needed to keep learning and not give up on it.

The subscription is about £38 for three months I think, which originally I thought was a lot, but when you think about how much actual lessons with a tutor cost per session, its really cheap! (By the way this isn’t an ad or anything, this is just what I’ve been using and liking!)

So.. on to how the last month and a bit has been. Well, I have been doing at least 30 minutes of piano practice everyday (I try to do 1 hour per day, but sometimes you just haven’t got the time!) and I am actually seeing progress!

I can now read sheet music, which I never had any idea on where to start in learning how to read music before. So that’s as big achievement for me. Also, I can now play quite a few songs with sheet music and I’ve been learning how to play some piano songs I’ve loved forever with the help of some easy YouTube tutorials.

One song I’m super proud of myself for learning (it’s only the super simplified easy version) is Yiruma – River Flows In You. I’ve added the video I learnt from below! Totally recommend this channel for beginner piano tutorials!

I’m definitely going to continue learning and practising the piano because I absolutely love it and I feel like it’s helped me with my mental health too. Music is something I’ve always used to relax and just tune out of whats around me, so being able to play it means the world to me! And I never imagined I would get as far as I have with my learning, and I’m not embarrassed to say I’m super proud of myself for sticking with it!

There are some things to remember when learning to play a new instrument or skill in general; first up, don’t give up! We all have bad days and good days, so even if you’re having a bad day and just can’t seem to get into a groove (pun intended haha), keep trying! Because the next day, you might be able to do whatever you struggled with without any issues!

Schedule away some time everyday to practice, so you know you’ve got time to work on yourself! This has really helped me to keep up with my lessons and progress, because if I didn’t put a reminder in my phone, I’d completely forget to practice.

Learning a new skill won’t happen overnight. It takes patience, practice and time!

Finally, BE PROUD OF YOURSELF. Making the decision to learn a new skill, no matter what it is, can be nerve racking, but so worth it! So be proud of the little things, for me learning to recognise a note on sheet music is huge for me, because I never imagined I’d be able to read music.

Here’s me playing River Flows In You based from the video above! Please be nice, I know it isn’t perfect (and I didn’t have the cables to record it any other way so the quality isn’t great..) but we all gotta start somewhere!

 

Another thing I’m super proud of is that I’m beginning to be able to play with both hands consistently without looking at them both constantly, which is pretty incredible coming from someone who would play the right hand from music tutorials with both hands..

Alright, I think that’s enough waffling on from me for today haha! Let me know in the comments what instrument you play or would love to learn to play. Also, when I’m confident in my keyboard/piano skills is that something you would want to see? Let me know!!

Have a great day everyone! And Happy May Day for Monday!

Love,

p.s. Here’s me playing the extremely simplified version of ‘Comptine d’un autre été’ from the same YouTube Channel shown above!

 

I’m Taking Part In RED January

Happy New Year everyone!! 2019 is upon us, and I can’t wait to see what great things are going to happen this year.

For me, this is the year of me trying new things and pushing myself out of my comfort zone; and what better way to start than by doing something I’ve never done before! Cycling. Now, I know what you’re thinking, how can I have never cycled before??

Well, that’s not 100% true, the last time I had a bike I was 6 and it still had stabilisers on it with pink tassels on the handlebars. So in my mind, I’ve never really done any cycling. Especially not on my own bike now that I’m an adult.

So, what even is RED January?

RED January was founded by Hannah Beecham after she found out how your mental health can benefit from exercise; she found this through helping her mother through the darkest of her depression with love, support and by working together towards a goal (The Walk The Walk Midnight Marathon).

Why am I taking part in RED January?

One of my new years resolutions for this year is to raise some money for charities that I have had a personal relationship with. And one of those charities is MIND.

I decided to take part in this challenge because I realised that I’m actually reasonably active; this is due to having to do physio for my back (that’s a post for another day) and developing a healthy relationship with exercise since recovering from anorexia, and it has definitely improved my mental health.

And also because I’ve just received my first every bike, I’m now cycling to work every day! So it makes sense that if I’m already being active every day and feeling the benefit, why not raise a little money in the process??

So that’s what I’m doing this month. Even on my birthday, the 17th! Taking part in RED January doesn’t sign you up for having to force yourself to do something terrible every day that is harrowing. The only requirement is that you do something active everyday in January, if you don’t like running, you can go for a walk, what if it’s raining and cold outside? You could do some yoga, find a workout on YouTube or simply dance around your house just in your pants if you want. That active part is up to you.

Now, since today is the 5th January, I’m about to go do day 5 of the blogilates 100 Ab challenge (wish me luck! I’ll be doing a follow up of this at the end of the month so stay tuned!) and then go for a bike ride if it’s nice outside.

Oh, and if you wanted to sponsor me, you can find my JustGiving page here! I know we’re all tight on money since Christmas is over, so don’t worry if you can’t donate, why not sign up to do the challenge yourself with me?

Have a great day lovelies!! See you next week!

Love,

Why I’m Refusing To Make New Years Resolutions About My Body.

Hello my lovelies! I hope you have all had a happy Christmas and a very peaceful few days in the lead up to the end of the year! And of course, because we’re coming up to the New Year, New Years resolutions are popping up all over the place.

Which brings me to this post. For as long as I can remember, I have made New Years resolutions each year; and EVERY SINGLE ONE has been about how my body looks and my weight. It’s always along the lines of: I will lose weight, I will drop a dress size, I will change my body, I will go to the gym 6 times a week, I will stop eating certain foods etc. etc. etc.

This year I REFUSE to make a resolution about changing my body.

Now, some of you who are subscribed to my blog will know that I have spoken out about my body image issues and having suffered with Anorexia (see my previous post about it here!). Well, this past year I have been lucky enough to get some help and support and I am happy to announce that I am in recovery!

Writing this post came from seeing everyone’s resolutions on social media, with the majority of them being about their bodies and how they want them to look; and before I started my recovery journey, mine would have been like that too. I started thinking about what I want for the new year ahead and for the first time in.. well forever, I don’t know what my resolution should be if it isn’t about my appearance.

Here’s why I’m refusing to make my new years resolutions about my body:

• My body does NOT need to change to be beautiful. It already is.
• Resolving to eat less food/calories is stupid, food is fuel and we need energy to do all the amazing things we want to accomplish.
• Food is not ‘good’ or ‘bad’ it’s just food.
• Taking up less space does NOT mean I am a better human being.
• Losing weight does not solve all your problems.
• Spending hours in the gym trying to make my body into something it’s naturally not supposed to be is useless. And boring!

Here’s when it’s okay to make a new years resolution about your body:

• Deciding to get help with a medical condition or something you’ve been struggling with.
• Deciding to love your body.
• Resolving to develop a healthy relationship with food and exercise. And no I don’t mean deciding to go on a so-called ‘healthy’ diet that makes you hate yourself and feel guilty for eating!!

So, because I am not making any resolutions to do with changing my body here are some resolutions that I AM making:

• Riding my bike to work instead of driving so I become more confident in cycling. (I just got my first bike this Christmas!)
• Read more.
• Continue writing my blog, it’s by far one of the best things I decided to do this past year and I absolutely love it!
• Learning to love my body more for everything it is and does.
• Wearing clothes that I feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of what other people think.
• Raise some money for charity. (you can check out my JustGiving page for MIND here if you want to!)

Those are just a few of my many resolutions for the new year; and I just want to share with you how much I truly appreciate every single one of you for reading, commenting, liking and interacting with me on here. You have made my year so happy and I can’t thank you enough for all of your support! What’re your new years resolutions? Let me know if the comments!!

I hope you all have a great New Years Eve and a very Happy New Year! Love,

P.S. Thank you for voting for me and all of the other amazing bloggers nominated in the UKBloggerAwards!!